


The Lack of Farewells

by petite-neko (petiteneko)



Category: Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-18
Updated: 2014-01-18
Packaged: 2018-01-09 05:01:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1141738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petiteneko/pseuds/petite-neko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Honestly, it was unfair. All of it. How he had to stay away. How he couldn’t say goodbye. How he had to watch as he disappeared from his life. And how he couldn’t do anything about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So the chapters here are going to switch between Sheik and Link's perspective.  
> This all started because I read a rather saddening angsty quote and a sad song.

"You know, he asked about you..."

Sheik heard her thought, although he kept his own sealed to her prying. Although she really wasn't prying, he corrected himself. He just wanted to keep some things to himself.

_"But you kept the secret I presumed?_ " He replied neutrally. he couldn't let her know how much it affected him. Not being able to say _goodbye _. Not existing in Link's mind.__

__"Of course. Link can't afford to be distracted. Not now._ _

___Not ever. _But that thought he kept to himself. No, instead he replied as he must. _"He needs to focus at the task at hand. Hyrule depends on it._ " Because no matter how much he wanted Link to think that Zelda was lying, he couldn't. Hyrule depended on it.__ _ _

______ _ _

.+++.

Sheik woke with a start, and some part of him knew something was wrong. And Zelda's voice echoed in his mind.

_You know, he asked about you..._

Where had he heard that before? And who did Zelda mean by he? He got out of bed before he heard the guards moving quickly, and he too moved with haste. He threw on his clothes and cowl and turban, only to be met with Impa.

"It would be best if you remained here Sheik."

Why was there a sadness in her eyes? Why did it seem as if she knew something? As if she regretted what she was doing right now?

He nodded numbly, and Impa left.

He... He... just who did Zelda mean by he?

> And just why did his chest feel so empty?

.+++.

When Impa came to relieve him from his room, he asked no questions. Aloud that is. But Impa knew, as she always did with those red, seeing eyes of hers.

"I know you must be wondering why, but there is a reason behind this.. And it may happen again."

"I know." He replied. "You do not do things without reason. Without good reason." What perplexed him was that doubt in her eyes. So much so that he almost missed a blur of green that hurried out of the castle.

_You know, he asked about you... ___

___Link... ____ _

____That word - that name - ran through his mind before more images and more memories flashed through. Everything from another time. Of what would happen if Ganondorf was not stopped._ _ _ _

____But not all of the memories were bad. He remembered a man in green, braving against the darkness. Seeing his smile bring light to the land. To his heart... His laughter. His awe..._ _ _ _

____Him. He.____

>  _ _ _ _Link.____

 _ _ _ _"Sheik?"_ _ _ _

____Impa's voice brought him back to the present._ _ _ _

____Hundreds of questions racked his mind, but he pushed them off to the side._ _ _ _

____"I thought I saw something. I was mistaken however." Because he saw a person. He saw Link._ _ _ _

____"Very well. Get moving then."_ _ _ _

______ _ _

.+++.

It took him awhile to forgive.

Before, he and Zelda were friends, but now he dedicated himself to Impa's teachings. But he was angry. Perhaps it was the youth of his body that made him so. Before, he was resigned to his fate. Before he understood and was able to push it away.

But now, that anger he held back with ease was boiling over and he was struggling to just keep a lid on it. So he focused on his studies. Focuses on his fighting skills. Anything to distract him from the matter at hand. From Link.

It hurt to think his name. It hurt to even think of him at all. The right shade of green made him ill with emotion. A floppy hat made him turn away. And he had to mute out any coversation involving the forest or fairies or Kokiri.

But he was gone. He vanquished the darkness, he wasn't needed anymore.

> And he didn't even get to say goodbye.

Because a goodbye meant that Sheik wasn't Zelda, and Link couldn't know that. 


	2. 02

Link had no idea what to think when Sheik was revealed as Zelda. But he did have to question it. It was the shock speaking… right?

“What about Sheik?”

“There was no Sheik Link. I needed a place to hide.”

Yet, what was this cavern that was being formed? As if something was ripped from him and he could only stand there and watch as it happened?

Was that shock as well?

.+++.

Perhaps it was a childish, selfish desire, but when they had foiled Ganondorf’s plans, he had to ask again. Maybe Zelda didn’t remember. Maybe… just maybe.

“I thought I told you Link… Sheik isn’t real.”

Link looked down and mumbled a quiet “Oh.” Hopefully Zelda would just think it’s because he was supposed to be a child.

He didn’t want her to think that he doubted her.

But was that really doubt? Or just a hope for the impossible?

Because a part of him really missed Sheik.

Especially since Navi was gone too…

.+++.

He wasn’t supposed to get lost in the woods… He grew up here! He knew what to do! He knew what to avoid!

So how come that tree looked exactly like the one two turns ago!

Maybe… it was because he didn’t have a purpose. Maybe… it was because he didn’t have a reason.

Because, he couldn’t honestly say who exactly he was looking for anymore.

It probably should be Navi. It really should be her.

> And yet, Sheik’s name and cowled face wouldn’t stop echoing in his mind.

.+++.

Tatl didn’t have to say it. And Tatl knew it.

There was a weight to his eyes.

There was emptiness.

No matter what friends he made, no matter how much he laughed, it was still there.

Perhaps she thought it was because of his journeys – she knew he had done this before.

Perhaps she thought it was because of what he still had to do.

But one thing was for certain – that weight and loneliness grew whenever he looked into Kafei’s eyes.

His red, all-seeing eyes.

> And they haunted him.

.+++.

His nights would be filled with mares.

His days filled with ghosts of the past.

And it hurt. It hurt _oh so much._ Kafei jokingly said he needed a ladyfriend.

> That was _far_ from what he needed.

He needed nothing. Nobody. Zero.

> Because what he needed didn’t even exist in the first place.

.+++.

Eventually the time came for him to return to Hyrule, and he dreaded it. But Epona needed tending to. She needed to see the woman whose clones lived at the ranch here. And he was certain Zelda wondered were he had been these past many years.

Time had aged his body, and perhaps a bit of his mind. Although things were still so very confusing. He was young yet old.

The travelling had mucked up his mental age, and he really didn’t know just who he was anymore. Was he still the child in an adult’s body? Or was he an adult in a child’s body?

But he did know one thing: Seeing Zelda’s face would hurt.

Because he still couldn’t forget.

> That Sheik never really was.


End file.
